Forget the Black Eyed Peas – meet the black-eyed children. They’re the worst of the ghosts. Kids are creepy. End of, really. Apparently, there are some creepy black eyed children stalking the streets of Abilene in Texas. The story comes from a local journalist, Brian Bethel, who said that in 1996 he was in the parking lot of a movie theatre when he popped on his inner car lights to write a check. Two words – e-transfer…wait…is that one word? Either way….I knew archaic banking was a road to evil. Anyway, back to the story. Noticing the light in his car, two kids came up to his window, which he rolled down to see what they wanted. The kids looked between 9 and 12 and they asked Bethel for a ride. He said he had a very uneasy feeling about the kids, and after a while, he noticed that their eyes were totally black. He wound up his window and got the heck out of there, but his story was enough to go down in Abilene Legend.
9. The Candy Lady
Who loves Candy? Because Caramel is such a dream. So the candy lady is said to have been a woman called Clara Crane who lived in Texas around the turn of the 20th Century. She was said to have been married to an older man and the pair had a child called Marcella. Sadly, Marcella was killed in a freak accident and Clara blamed her husband and went mad, reportedly killing him with poisoned caramel. She was taken to North Texas Lunatic Asylum but released a few years later. This is when candy started showing up on window sills, luring in kids. Later, a number of kids across the state went missing, and one farmer was said to have found rotten children’s teeth in a caramel wrapper on his land. The urban legend goes that the candy lady will start by leaving a kid candy to win their trust, then she will abduct them and stab them with a fork. Shouldn’t laugh… but forks are kind of a comedy utensil…right?!
8. The Donkey Lady
Apparently ye olde Donkey lady haunts a Bridge over Elm Creek in San Antonio, Texas. The origin story of the ghost dates back almost 200 years to the mid-1800s when settlers were living along the banks of Elm Creek. A husband and wife had a small wooden farmhouse and were making a living with a small number of livestock. One day, one of their donkeys or mules was grazing in the area when a young man from the town came across it. This man was not a nice man, but he was a wealthy man, he was the son of an important town leader. The young man teased the donkey and hit it with a stick, to which the donkey fairly responded by biting him. Retaliating, the man started heavily beating the donkey.
Hearing their mule being attacked, the couple emerged and told the man to get away, throwing rocks at him for hurting their valuable animal. The man had a bit of a Prince Geoffrey entitled moment and screamed that his father would hear about this…and hear he did. He brought a bunch of friends to the farmhouse to torch the place. When the husband intervened, he was shot, as were his sons. The wife’s dress caught fire and she helplessly watched her loved ones die. As she was engulfed in flames, she screamed, running down the road. She began to burn as she threw herself into the creek. Her body was never found, but her wails aresaid to still be heard along the stretch of road. If a car stops for too long – she is said to appear, screaming with her arms outstretched on the bridge. Some even report a body falling on the bonnet of the car, but when they stop, there is nothing there.
7. Arlington's Screaming Bridge/Hell's Gate
According to many Texans, going down to the Arlington Screaming bridge and listening out for the shrieks of the dead is some kind of local right of passage. On a winter’s night in 1961, a car full of 6 Arlington teenage girls fell off burned out the wooden bridge and on to rail tracks and next to a creek with a little bridge over it. The driver didn’t realize the bridge was out. Three of the girls died as a result of the crash, one suffered a brain injury and the other two were injured. Those responsible for burning the bridge were four boys who went to the same high school as the girls, resulting in a big local scandal and tragedy. The bridge over the creek still stands and people refer to it as screaming bridge in memory of the girls who died. The spot near the bridge may also be cursed; 1994, two people were killed in a truck when the driver tried to outrace a train at a crossing.
6. The White Lady of Rio Frio
The Frio River is a beautiful spot near Rio Frio in Texas. On summer days, you may see picnickers hanging out by the water, enjoying the weather, but some say they have had a far spookier experience. Many people that visit the Frio River have reported a strange white mist hovering over the water. Some say it is a strange microclimate, but others cite the story of the Lady of Frio. The story goes that back in the 1900s, a young girl called Maria Juarez was the prettiest girl in the Canyon. She was young and had an elder sister, whom she loved. Her sister had children with a mad called Gregorio, who unfortunately cared more about Maria than a sister in law.
Maria helped raise her sisters children and dreamed of the day she would meet someone, marry them and have their kids. She thought all of her dreams had come true when she met Anselmo, a dashing young man who seemed to return her affections. Sadly, this angered Gregorio, who told Maria that he loved her and wanted to be with her. When she rebuffed him because of her sister and Anselmo, he shot her through the heart by the lake. Her spirit is said to haunt the spot to this day. Adding a level of legitimacy to the story, there is an unmarked grave in Frio cemetery said to belong to Maria, the white lady, who died an unmarried virgin.
5. El Muerto
The El Muerto tale is truly terrifying! Back during the Gold Rush era, people thought there was gold to be found in Texas. On top of that, the USA Mexico border was hotly contested around that area, with an area of no man's land between the two countries. In this area, Bandits were rife and Texas Rangers were around to keep them in check. One ranger, William Big Foot Wallace, wanted to teach the bandits a lesson after one persistent criminal, known simply as Vidal, stole a bunch of Mustang Horses. When he was a court, Big Foot Wallace and his ranger friends chopped off Vidal’s head, sat his body on a horse, attached his hands to the reins and strung his head to the saddle. This was supposed to teach other would be bandits a lesson not to mess with the Texans. Some poor sod had to deal with finding the horse and its deceased cargo, too. Despite eventually being taken down from the horse, legend has it that Vidal rides on through the Rio Grande area today, with his ghost being dubbed El Muerto.
4. Dancing Devil of El Camaroncito
A dancing Texan Urban Legend? Apparently, the dancing devil is only local to El Camaroncito, so ladies of other towns, no worries if a man is asking you to dance…you are probably safe. Ladies in Camaroncito, though. Eeesh. So basically legend has in, in the 1970s, a man in a dapper suit would ask beautiful ladies to dance with him. While they didn’t find him beautiful, they felt compelled to dance. As he danced, women would be swept up. One day, a woman noticed the man she was dancing with had hooves for feet and that everyone near them was staring in horror. Realizing she was dancing with the devil, she ran away. The devil, however, remained. I always keep my demons in my dancing shoes.
3. Goatman
There are a couple of legends surrounding the Goatman of Old Alton Bridge in Denton County. The bridge is locally dubbed Goatmans bridge…some say that that is because there is a goat like a demon that haunts the nearby forest, but others turn to a more elaborate tale of a local goat farmer. Oscar Washburn was a black goat farmer who was known for being an honest businessman and well-liked member of the community. Unfortunately, a successful black man caught the attention of the KKK who were said to have abducted him in August 1938. Reportedly, they tied a noose around his neck and threw him over the Old Alton Bridge into the river below. When they went to bring his body up, they found the noose was empty. Frustrated, the klan went to his house and slaughtered his wife and children. Washburn’s body was never found and a lot of paranormal enthusiasts will tell you that if you drive over the bridge at night without headlights on, the goatman will be standing at the other side. Some also report being touched or grabbed by a spirit, and others say there are weird lights flashing in the nearby forest.
2. The Ghosts of Fort Phantom Hill
Fort Phantom is one of the most well preserved historic sites in Texas, with original architecture dating back to the mid-1850s. Fort Phantom was built as a safe stop for immigrants headed to the Californian Gold Fields. The story behind the name of the phantom hill seems to be two-fold. On the one hand, the fort is said to look high up on plateau from afar, but when you get close, it looks level, so it disappears like a phantom. The other story is that one night while a sentry was keeping watch, he fired on a native American who was on a hill. When he went to go and investigate, he didn’t find a body and the team at the fort couldn’t find any evidence of any natives nearby. This ghost on the hill is said to re-emerge every now and then, confusing those who watch from the garrison.
1. Houston Batman
The Houston Batman is also known as the Houston Horror and is a winged creature that has regularly been sighted in Houston Texas. This creature is a little like the Mothman of the Mothman Prophecies. The story of the winged menace dates back to 1953 when a woman and her neighbors were sitting on their porch on East Third Street in Houston. 23-year-old housewife, Hilda Walker said she looked up over the lawn and saw the shadow of a huge moth. When she looked up, she saw something huge fly into a pecan tree. She and her neighbors thought the monster was around 6 and a half feet tall. 14-year-old Judy Mayer, who was also sat on the porch, screamed in fear as she got a square on look at the monster. He was described as a man like but with wings, huge, with a strange yellow haze. Mrs. Walker reported the incident to the police and spoke to local news outlets. The batman slash moth man may have been spotted again by Houston Bellaire Theatre workers in the 1990s and the legend lives on to this day. Some suspect a government coverup is at play, as vigilantes seeking the batman discovered some years later that Mrs. Walker’s neighborhood was razed to make way for a new part of the interstate.
